Tolmezzo

Tolmezzo stands in Carnia at the meeting of Alpine valleys and routes towards the Friulian plain. Under the Patriarchate of Aquileia, Patriarch Gregory of Montelongo instituted a weekly market in 1258, helping the settlement develop as a commercial centre for the mountain district. In 1392 Patriarch John of Moravia confirmed its statutes and privileges and its leading administrative position in Carnia.

Tolmezzo passed to the Republic of Venice with Friuli in 1420, retaining its privileges. In the eighteenth century the textile enterprise of Jacopo Linussio brought a new phase of economic activity, linking production in the mountain region with markets beyond it.